


Scars

by Tollwutgefahr



Series: Survivors [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 18:06:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/994920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tollwutgefahr/pseuds/Tollwutgefahr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard misses the scars she used to have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scars

Shepard stands in front of the full length mirror observing her own naked body. There are a few scars here and there, but they aren't old. Not yet. She wonders if she'll live long enough for them to become old.

She notices movement in the bed behind her and watches Jack's reflection frown sleepily at her back. Shepard doesn't move, but she watches the younger woman slip out of bed to stand behind her. Jack slides her arms around Shepard's waist and pulls her back against her. They both stare at the study in contrasts they present in the mirror. Jack's darker, tattooed skin stands out next to Shepard's paler, nearly blank slate of a body. Or maybe it's the other way 'round.

Jack quirks an eyebrow and kisses Shepard's neck. "The fuck are you doing up? You're gonna freeze your tits off."

A faint smile tugs at Shepard's lips for a moment. "Just...looking for scars that aren't there." Jack's brow furrows slightly. "I should have more," Shepard continues. "Scars from Mindoir, scars from Akuze...scars from all the shit I lived through before I died. Cerberus...put me back together. But they couldn't give me those scars back. I...I still feel naked without them."

She takes Jack's hand and trails the other woman's finger across the places the scars should have been. "You have your tattoos to remind you of things. I had those scars. Looking at them, feeling them...it reminded me that I'd actually lived through those things. That my memories weren't just nightmares. That they'd happened, that I'd been there. That I'd..." Her voice trembles and catches, and Jack instinctively pulls her tighter. "That I'd made it out alive of more things than I had any right to live through..."

"Shepard..."

She turns in Jack's arms and runs a hand over the stubble on the younger woman's head. There's confusion in Jack's eyes, with a little bit of what she thinks might be pain. She closes her eyes and presses her forehead to Jack's. "I...I don't feel whole with them gone. Nobody knows that. They...wouldn't understand." Shepard takes a shaky breath.

"Sometimes I thought about trying to...recreate them." She feels Jack pull back a little and opens her eyes to look at her, eyes plainly asking if Shepard meant that the way she thought she meant it. Shepard just nods.

Jack looks at her frankly. "That's...kind of fucked up, Shepard." It's true. But there's an understanding in the way she says it that puts Shepard at ease.

She buries her face in the crook of Jack's neck. Jack strokes her hair and Shepard feels her sigh.

"Should get you some fucking tattoos," Jack murmurs. Shepard thinks that's might be a good idea. Maybe then she'd feel less naked when she was naked.


End file.
